GreekAussie Posted May 19, 2008 Report Share Posted May 19, 2008 How many Armenian males were conscripted into the labor battalions ? What was the range of ages of these men ? (16-60yo comes to mind but I am not sure) What were the dates of the various call-ups ? Are there any estimates of how many men deserted ? How many were discharged at the end of the war ? Does anyone know of any book that covers what we know about the fate of these men in detail ? Also interested in the statements of deserters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hellektor Posted May 19, 2008 Report Share Posted May 19, 2008 How many Armenian males were conscripted into the labor battalions ? What was the range of ages of these men ? (16-60yo comes to mind but I am not sure) What were the dates of the various call-ups ? Are there any estimates of how many men deserted ? How many were discharged at the end of the war ? Does anyone know of any book that covers what we know about the fate of these men in detail ? Also interested in the statements of deserters. Check this out: Armenians in the Ottoman Army (From the 14th Century till 1918) Don't miss the pics! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoComment Posted May 20, 2008 Report Share Posted May 20, 2008 The first stage constituted the elimination of the Armenian elite (eliticide). On April 24, 1915, the Armenian intellectuals were mass-arrested and brutally murdered within a day or two. 151 Then it was time to eliminate the bulk of a possible resistance – the able-bodied male population. All Armenian men between 20 and 45 (August 1914) and later men between 18 to 20 and 45 to 60 were enlisted in the Ottoman Army, leaving the women, children and elderly practically defenceless.152 In the early 1915, these soldiers started being disarmed and placed in labour battalions, where they were maltreated. From February 1915, the Turkish Government ordered the liquidation of these labour battalions and by July 1915, approximately 200,000 Armenian men had been executed.153 151 In Constantinople alone 2,345 Armenian leaders were arrested within a couple of weeks. See Alvarez, 2001, p. 49. Also see Chalk and Jonassohn, 1990, p. 260; Dadrian, 2004, p. 221; Destexhe, 1995, p. 23; Jones, 2006, p. 106. 152 Dadrian, 1999, p. 6; Shaw, 2003, p. 32. 153 Adalian, 1995, p. 17; Akçam, 2006, p. 141-145; Jones, 2006, p. 106. Weitz, 2003, p. 4-5. The Armenian Genocide 1915 From a Neutral Small State’s Perspective: Sweden by Vahagn Avedian p.35-36 http://www.hist.uu.se/modules/events/visad...nt.aspx?id=8795 a clue? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoComment Posted May 20, 2008 Report Share Posted May 20, 2008 The Issue of Armenian Military Conscription There have been singular exceptions and cases during the history of Armenian-Turkish relations when the ottoman authorities have requested military help from the Armenians. During the Jelali Rebellions, when Deli Hasan attacked Sepastia in 1600, the local governing ***** was forced to arm the residents of the city, including Armenians, due to a lack of regular army troops. In 1847 were called to military service when Ottoman forces were battling against rebellious Kurdish chieftains in the eastern provinces. Having suffered heavy losses in 1877 during the Russo-Turkish War, the Ottoman government felt the need to conscript its Christian subjects into the army and called on their religious patriarchates for assistance. The overwhelming majority of those attending the Armenian National Assembly in Constantinople on December 14, 1877 rejected the government’s plea. After the 1908 declaration reinstating the Ottoman Constitution, Armenians along with other Christian subjects made demands in the Ottoman Parliament to be conscripted in the army and to be given equal rights in the service of the army. Conservative elements with the Armenian community were against conscription while the young strata were for the idea. According to a law passed in the Ottoman Parliament in 1910 all subject peoples in the Empire were subject to military service. When the declaration for a military draft was published in August and September of 1910 the Armenian youth greeted it with great enthusiasm since it lifted from their shoulders the psychological burden of being a captive, raya (cattle) and subjects. The military field opened up for the Armenians. Taking advantage of the possibilities, Armenian youth began studying at the Harbiye imperial military academy and quickly proved themselves in various military sectors. Greatly appreciating the orderliness, loyalty and cleanliness of the Armenians, the Turkish officers began substituting their Turkish troops with Armenians. Many of these soldiers quickly rose up in the ranks. Armenian soldiers performed many acts of bravery both during the Ballkan War and the First World War and were praised by top Turkish military officers, thus proving that Armenians weren’t only skilled merchants and craftsmen but courageous soldiers as well. At the outbreak of World War I some 60,000 Armenians between the ages of 18-45 were conscripted into the Ottoman Army. They joined the ranks of Armenians already in army service. Despite the harsh conditions awaiting them in the army, Armenians were quick to fulfill their duties with such devotion that they saved Enver ***** from being taken prisoner on the Garin front. Enver in turn sent a message praising and thanking the Armenian troops to Zaven Der-Yeghiaian, the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople. On the other hand, starting from the first days of the war false rumors started to spread regarding Armenian soldiers deserting the army. This was just a pretext for the implementation of the premeditated plan of the Young Turks for the extermination of the Armenians. On February 12, 1915 the disarming of Armenian soldiers began and these troops were soon organized into work battalions. At the same time Armenian officers were being isolated and arrested. What followed was the directive of Enver *****, Minister of War, to exterminate all Armenian soldiers in the army. More than 60,000 Armenian soldiers were brutally killed on the rear lines. Many Armenian military doctors also fell on the battlefield when serving in field hospitals. Many also perished after treating Turkish soldiers who had contracted typhus. Then too, many were slaughtered simply for being Armenian. Also arrested on the evening of April 24, 1915 was the poet and prose write Ruben Sevak who also served as a military doctor with the rank of captain at the Makrigyugh military hospital. He shared the same fate of the other Armenian intellectuals destined to be brutally slaughtered in the interiors of Anatolia. By thus destroying the fighting potential of the western Armenians the Turkish government set about to implement its predetermined plan to exterminate its Armenian populace. This is how the Turks repaid the Armenians for their centuries of diligent service in strengthening the Ottoman Army. They also continued to express their “thanks” by erasing Armenians from the Ottoman military history books and by claiming that only Turks and other Muslim peoples shed blood for the Ottoman Empire and that Christians, Armenians included, were able to prosper and develop given that they were exempt from military service. However the irrefutable historical facts show that for centuries on end Armenians, whether serving as soldiers, doctors, craftsmen, suppliers and officials, were a constant presence in the Ottoman Army and significantly contributed to its becoming a major world force. -------------------- http://www.arattakingdom.com http://hyeforum.com/index.php?showtopic=18197 a second clue? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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